It’s been an interesting month for Louisiana Catholics in the state’s southeastern corner, hopefully presaging the beginning of the end for turbulent times.

The pederasty – and make no mistake, that’s what it is as 75-80 percent of all sexual abuse cases known against priests involved male minors – that was tolerated among a small coterie of priests (about four percent of the total) claimed an unfortunately high total of victims in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. So much so that the archdiocese declared bankruptcy to avoid financial ruin and shamefully has been lowballing a settlement.

But earlier this month a new offer of $230 million was made to the several hundred members of the affected class. If enough accept, the settlement will become official.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond has overseen the process, drawing criticism not only for past actions within the diocese when he oversaw schools and appeared to shield at least one pederast coach from immediate removal after credible allegations (that led to a lengthy prison sentence for the miscreant) of abuse emerged and sat on other cases, but also for stonewalling the settlement.

Aymond has turned 75, meaning he may be replaced at any time by the Pope, American Leo XIV. That will happen sooner rather than later as Leo has named James Francis Checcio, currently bishop of the Diocese of Metuchen, NJ, as coadjutor. Checcio, interestingly, has a background in canon law and previously served as rector of the prestigious Pontifical North American College in Rome.

Checcio’s has turned in a largely good record as a bishop. He publicly criticized the imbecility sneering at Catholic belief in the Paris Olympic Games opening ceremony and took on secular authorities in New Jersey over its legal permitting of assisted suicide. But he also has faced some critiques for his tolerance of a doctrinally-scandalous pro-homosexual behavior group in his diocese and for allowing disgraced former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, an abuser of clergy, to reside briefly at the College during the 2013 conclave even as it was widely known within the American church hierarchy of his activities, to which Checchio had even greater information about when he took over in Metuchen in 2016 since McCarrick had once been bishop there.

Hopefully, the Most Rev. Checcio has learned from these mistakes and will provide critical, Christ-centered leadership on this issue in closing out this sad chapter. He should best follow the model of Bishop Michael Duca of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, whose entire ecclesiastical leadership career has demonstrated zero tolerance for sexual misconduct within the clergy and openness and transparency in trying to rectify the Church’s past missteps related to that behavior.

Next door in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux there’s reason to celebrate as well. Believed to be the first African-ordained bishop in the mainland U.S., Simon Peter Engurait earlier this month assumed the helm of that bishopric. After a secular life as a young adult, fewer than 20 years ago, he became a seminarian in the diocese, was ordained a priest, and pastored in various positions in the diocese. He replaced the Most Rev. Mario Dorsonville, who tragically died less than a year after his installation, with Bishop Engurait having administered the diocese from early last year.

In some ways, this Diocese reflects a smaller version of what happened in the Archdiocese. Credible abuse claims were verified against over a dozen priests, but critics have noted that others went unadmitted under the guidance of its former bishop the Most Rev. Shelton Fabre, now Archbishop of Louisville. Fabre also was part of the Archdiocese’s hierarchy as claims were brought against it.

Bishop Engurait comes from Uganda, where the African Church increasingly has given witness to a faith more spiritual and less secularized than seen typically in western countries. And his religious career temporally avoids entirely the pederasty scandals, which puts him in good stead to complete an honest reckoning of the mistakes made in the past in the diocese.

Catholics in those bishoprics and all in Louisiana should pray for these men to bring proper atonement on behalf of their diocese and archdiocese and to deliver future leadership that prevents any such misdeeds from soiling the Church again.